The Sociomateriality of the Creative Process: Script Roles in Film Production

Abstract

The article aims to identify and analyze the roles played by the script in the creative process of independent short film production. The theoretical framework is based on distributed creativity and sociomateriality. These approaches are complementary and helped us discuss how the script can shape the creativity of the subjects involved in the film production. We have followed the daily teamwork during the film production through participant observation, interviews, documents, photographs, and video. We identified three roles played by the script: (1) protagonist: centralizes creative ideas around its framing; (2) feature player: responsible for mediating creative actions, and (3) antagonist: hinders creative actions. Each of these roles directly influences the different stages of the creative process, which takes place through creativity distributed between people and artifacts. We conclude that artifacts have temporary roles in the creative process, and more than enhancing or limiting this process, they are an integral part of creativity. Therefore, humans and artifacts are entangled in the creative process and should not be analyzed separately.